(Morrison- Valfre’s) Foundation of Mental
Health Exam
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS || A+
ALREADY GRADED
Compensation - ANSWER ✔ Attempt to Overcome Feelings of Inferiority or
Make up for Deficiency, Example: A girl thinks she cannot sing studies to become
an expert pianist; Nurse with low self-esteem working double shifts so her
supervisor will like her
Covering Up a Lack or Weakness by Emphasizing a Desirable Trait, or Making up
for a Frustration in one are by Overemphasis in Another area. Learned early in
Childhood and may be Recognized in Adult Behavior - ANSWER ✔
Compensation, Example: The Physically Handicapped Individual who is an
Outstanding Scholar, Chuck is awkward in sports activities and puts his energies
into being an honor student
Conversion - ANSWER ✔ Channeling of Unbearable Anxieties into Body Signs
and Symptoms, Example: A boy who injured an animal by kicking it develops a
painful limp
Denial - ANSWER ✔ REFUSAL to Acknowledge Conflict and thus Escapes
Reality of Situation, Example: A child covered with chocolate refuses to admit
eating candy
REFUSAL to Face Reality. The Ego Protects itself from Unpleasant pain or
conflict by Rejecting Obvious Facts or Truth. - ANSWER ✔ Denial, Example: A
Person Not seeing a Doctor because he does not want to know the truth, Helen is
Unable to face the reality that she has a terminal illness
Displacement - ANSWER ✔ Redirecting of Energies to Another Person or
Object, Example: A Husband shouts at his wife; the wife then berates her child,
who then scolds the dog, Bob took out his on the job frustrations on his wife and
children
, Discharging Pent-up Feelings from one object to a Less Dangerous object -
ANSWER ✔ Displacement, Example: Your Supervisor yells at you and you yell
at your husband
Dissociation - ANSWER ✔ Separation of Emotions from Situation; Isolation of
Painful Anxieties, Example: A soldier casually describes the battle in which he lost
his legs
Fantasy - ANSWER ✔ Distortion of Unacceptable Wishes, Behaviors;
Example: A teenager doing poorly in school daydreams about owning a private jet
airplane
Gratification by Imaginary Achievements and Wishful Thinking - ANSWER ✔
Fantasy, Example: Children's play
Identification - ANSWER ✔ Taking on of Personal Characteristics of ADMIRED
Person to Conceal Own Feelings of Inadequacy;
Example: Teenage adolescents dress and behave like the members of a popular
singing group
Assumption of Desirable Personality Attributes of one ADMIRED. Satisfaction
can be derived from assuming the success or the experience of others - ANSWER
✔ Identification, Example: Nurse who Feels Sick Watching a Traumatic
Procedure on her Patient, Lynn says NO to Cocaine, having Adopted her parents'
Values Rejecting the Use of drugs
Intellectualization - ANSWER ✔ Focusing of Attention on Technical or Logical
Aspects of Threatening Situation;
Example: A wife describes the details of nurses unsuccessful attempts to prevent
the death of her husband
Isolation - ANSWER ✔ Separation of Feelings from Content to Cope
Unemotionally with Topics that would normally be Overwhelming; Example: A
soldier humorously describes how he was seriously wounded in combat
Walling off of certain ideas, attitudes, or feelings. Separating the feelings from the
intellect, by putting our emotions concerning a specific traumatic event into an
isolated compartment; This pattern can be positive if used temporarily to keep the
ego from being overwhelmed. - ANSWER ✔ Isolation, Example: The Individual
, talks about a significant situation such as an accident or death without a display of
feelings; Six months after the Death of his Son, Jeff could discuss it Without
Experiencing Earlier Painful Feelings
Projection - ANSWER ✔ Putting of one's own unacceptable thoughts, wishes,
emotions onto others;
Example: A woman is afraid to leave her house because she knows people will
ridicule her
Attribution of one's own Undesirable traits to someone else. - ANSWER ✔
Projection, Example: The child who says to a parent, "You hate me," after the
parent has spanked the child. In an adult, this technique may be a predominant
indicator of paranoia; Luther Blames his Wife's Frigidity for his own Infidelity
Rationalization - ANSWER ✔ Use of a "good" but not real reason to explain
behavior to make unacceptable motivation more acceptable;
Example: A student justifies failing an examination by saying that there was too
much material to cover
The attempt that is Almost Universally Employed to prove or justify behavior. It is
face saving to give a reason that is acceptable rather than the real reason -
ANSWER ✔ Rationalization, Example: "It wasn't worth it anyway", "It's all for
the best", This Mechanism relieves anxiety temporarily and helps the person avoid
facing reality; Bea feels avoids dating by saying she prefers to sit and watch TV
alone
Reaction formation - ANSWER ✔ Prevention of expression of threatening
material by engaging in behaviors that are directly opposite to repressed material;
Example: A young man with homosexual feelings, which he finds to be
threatening, engages in excessive heterosexual activities
Prevention of Dangerous Feelings and Desires from being expressed by
exaggerating the opposite attitude-a kind of denial. - ANSWER ✔ Reaction-
Formation, Example: The overly Neat, Polite, conscientious individual may have
an unconscious desire to be Untidy and Carefree; Although Dick was Overly
Polite, always smiling and joking, his humor was Sarcastic and Hostile
Regression - ANSWER ✔ Coping with present conflict, stress by returning to
earlier, more secure stage of life;
